Do tall, super tall, and mega tall buildings consume or conserve more energy than conventional buildings? This question is important because we keep hearing about a massive population shift to urban centers is taking place and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs is predicting 66% of the world’s population will live in urban areas. As more people live, work, and play in urban centers, there is an increasing need to develop supertall mixed-use towers. As awe-inspiring supertall buildings are – our team is focused on improving their efficiency and reducing their overall impact to our planet’s natural resources. One way we do this is through building energy model simulations and comparing simulated performance to actual consumption.
Mehdi Jalayerian and Edna Lorenz will present their knowledge of the relationship between tall buildings and energy use gained through analyzing publically available data from municipal energy benchmarking ordinances for correlations between building size, age, utility profiles, and energy consumption at the 2016 ASHRAE Winter Conference in Orlando, Florida. Attendees may be surprised at what their research uncovered and how it will impact the design and operation of supertalls now and well into the future.